


You Gotta Wash Your Buddy

by CaitClandestine



Category: Sleeping With Sirens
Genre: But they fix it, Gen, bandyboibathtime, sad kellin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-08
Updated: 2021-01-08
Packaged: 2021-03-18 15:08:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28620081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaitClandestine/pseuds/CaitClandestine
Summary: He takes energy from the wind and rain and watches how it drains from Kellin instead.
Kudos: 1





	You Gotta Wash Your Buddy

**Author's Note:**

> many years later I still have such a thing for Justin

The rain sets in somewhere near Oklahoma. It's not cold - they're coming out of Fall but the wind blows strong and the drizzle becomes relentless, dark clouds shadowing them everywhere they go. 

Justin doesn't really care too much. There's no outdoor venues on this run and no storms so therefore no lightning and to him, no cancelled shows and no problem. In fact he sort of likes the fierce wind, the way he can brace against it when he walks, of looking up and knowing there's more clouds rolling in.

If he was at home he'd be right out in it, on his board or his bike, trying to break his speed record round the little track he's got around his house now, because he's that kind of badass. 

He takes energy from the wind and rain and watches how it drains from Kellin instead. 

Kellin, bless his tiny little emo heart - and Justin is one of the few people who can get away with saying that to Kellin's face - is his complete opposite. He hates weather that in his words, doesn't have a point. He wants his wind and rain to end up in a massive storm, even though they all scream when the power inevitably goes out.

So of course the longer the purgatorial weather continues, the more Kellin's mood drops. They all try to keep him afloat but the storm that's brewing under their singers skin is inevitable. 

They're brothers, family. Bonded. But Kellin's always been on a different wavelength, sometimes unreachable. They do their best to protect him where they can, the little corners of all their lives where he lets them and pray for the places even they can't reach. 

It's sad to watch. The landscape changes when the state lines do but the weather follows doggedly along. Something about the wet season maybe, an unusual weahter forecast. Everyone has an opinion. Nick tries to will the water towards California and Jack just complains about his new leather jacket constantly being damp but it's all a distraction from the sullen shadow that now creeps along behind them.

As awful as it sounds there's a few songs where Kellin hurting absolutely makes them so much more - and the careful words they listen to him throw out during the night might be ostensibly for the crowd but maybe also for himself. 

They wait for Jack to call it, wait to wake up one morning to a clear sky but when they hit a week and a half of drizzle there's little chance that Kellin can fight his way out of this one alone. But they always wait for Jack, who mostly seems to know just when the tipping point is between starting a fight or winning the war.

Mostly. He's perhaps called it a little early judging by how much Kellin is resisting their collective attempts to get him out of his bunk and into the hotel they've specially booked. Well, Nick has. It's been years but he's still new to them, to how things work. He says he likes organising things, being useful. 

Honestly, most of the time with Kellin Justin just goes with the proverbial wind and hopes for the best. He can only ever get the older to take the edge off if he's in a really dark place and he's thankful that that's not what they have now. 

What they've got is an indignant, overtired and emotionally exhausted skeleton who's completely unironically raining his fists down on Jack's back where the other man has pulled him from his bed and thrown him over his shoulder. 

"Put me the fuck down! Jack, I swear if you don't let me go right now i'll -"

"You'll what" Justin interrupts, "Go back to hiding in your bed like a sad sack?"

If he can distract Kellin he'll stop fighting them so much. This isn't their first rodeo.

Kellin flips him off, snarl visible underneath the way his hair is all over his face, which is flushed red from the upside down nature of Jack's grip.

"Just let it go dude, c'mon, you can hide in a nice real bed, won't that be nice?"

Nick's too nice and Kellin so, so isn't in the mood for it.

"Fuck off and leave me here to die, all of you" He snaps, but their combined efforts has been a success because he's stopped wiggling so much, body hanging down as dead weight as Jack expertly manouveres him through the bus and down the steps, Nick's hand reaching out to make sure Kellin's head doesn't get smacked against the doorframe.

Again, not their first rodeo. It's really hard to soothe someone when you've just given them a forehead lump the size of a potato.

Outside, Jack carefully sets Kellin to his feet and Justin blocks the bus door just to be safe. 

"Bath and bed" Nick coaxes again, 

"And beyond" Justin adds, because that's who he is as a person.

Nick's arm settles around Kellin's shoulders as they trail towards the hotel, Justin dragging the single suitcase they've all just collectively thrown enough stuff into for the night. The place is nothing special, some middle of America franchise that's mostly for business people passing through and having one night stands. The decor in the lobby is fucking ugly, some kind of modern grey paisley that makes Justin's sense of style look glamorous in comparison.

They use their band card to pay for it, because technically this is band business. A couple hundred bucks for Kellin's sanity is a fucking bargain to any label as far Justin's concerned.

The elevator smells strongly of cleaner and they're quiet now as they travel up the floors, the kind of room they need always that little bit fancier, like anyone cares about the rooftop view of nowhere, Arkansas enough to pay extra. They have two rooms but they'll only need one.

Jack swipes the key and they tumble in, flick on the lights. There's only one - well two, sleeping in a real bed is never, ever anything but blissful - reasons they're here. 

They need a bathtub.

There's lots of things that Kellin does to settle himself. He's got the whole zen meditation thing down, he goes for runs, gets cuddles, calls home. Sometimes he talks about how he's feeling and sometimes he doesn't. He's not the terrified, out of his head kid he used to be, way more mature than that even when he's struggling.

So the bathtub solution is kind of a special thing. They don't save it for any particular situation, just throw it into their mix of coping strategies and deciding what they do when is way above Justin's pay grade. He just remembers to always the pack the bath stuff.

They're about halfway through a travel sized set of vanilla and coconut, matching bodywash, shampoo and conditioner and the scent always lingers, stays on Kellin's butter soft hair for a day or two. There's a pair of little fluffy wash floofs in black, fancy set of towels from one of those very expensive stores that sell expensive house things. A little plastic cup with ducks on it. Expensive hair-dryer too, because Kellin - and Jack, actually, the diva, hate sleeping with wet hair.

They narrowly avoid having Kellin detour to flop onto the bed, Nick leading him into the ample bathroom and it's a nice tub, even has a fancy wooden plank for them to rest all their crap on. Justin starts the water - lukewarm, because trial and error has proven that hot water only serves to amp up whatever panic Kellin's carrying, make him worse. 

Just like they are as a band, everyone has their own task to complete. It's one of the few things they do in silence, without jokes or arguments or complaints. 

Jack brings everything in, lines up the bottles on said fancy plank. Kellin, now much more agreeable - he very, very rarely fights them once they're at this point, but it's important he knows he's allowed to bail he if he wants - shrugs out of his hoodie and shirt, Nick dropping to his knees to unlace sneakers, Kellin's fingers curled into his shirt for balance as socks soon follow.

It's not a weird naked thing. It could be, Justin's always been kinda down for that but this is very much not the mood he'd ever want. Still, he and Kellin always keep their underwear on. Mostly because Justin's quite sure that there's nothing particularly comforting about your best friends dick floating around against your back. 

He undresses himself mostly, surveys the perfect amount of bubbles Jack's always able to make happen. Occasionally they've been able to score a room that has a giant spa bath or hot tub that'll let Jack squeeze in as well because Kellin's small but Justin's still the only other one of them small enough to fit in a normal bath with him. 

He lets Nick fulfil his gentlemanly desires and hold his arm as he steps into the tub, descends into the bubbles and slides back as much as he can and when catches a glimpse of Kellin's expression as he's guided over as well he knows how much he really need this to happen, that Jack had made a timely call. 

It's comforting for him too, to feel the way Kellin settles back against his chest, knees tucked up and maybe he's crying but the sound of it's lost under the still running water. He slides his arms around a tiny waist and links his fingers. 

They start with the hair. They're all happy Kellin's ditched the blonde, the knotted mess it became and is back to black, Nick reaching for the cup to start wetting it and they share a smile as he fake throws the water towards Justin as well. 

Jack's on floof duty, adding extra soap to make it fluffy with bubbles and they get a predictable whine out of Kellin when a scoop of bubbles is very seriously booped onto his nose - Justin can't see it but he knows exactly the face the other is making. He's ticklish too, wiggling in his arms as Jack must find his toes underwater and it's what they want, for Kellin to be focused in the present on them, not hiding away in his head.


End file.
